Da Dominion: Home of DOMINIONCAST!

Secondly: The Godfather Part II, The Empire Strikes, Spiderman 2 - they all share with Dark Knight the kinship of being sequels that miraculously surpass their epic forbearers. Although Bats has earned enough in it’s opening weekend to bankroll the first two. Spiderman 2, though excellent, as another comic book movie is kid stuff in comparison. Part of what makes a great sequel is its ability to magnify or develop the original story or characters.

Ra’s Al Ghul - in the guise of Ducard - was the villain that created Batman, whom rebelled from the dark side but only by a whisper. YES, I will spoil Batman Begins! If you haven’t seen it by now, odds are you’re NOT reading this blog - so fuck you infidel. Anyway, Batman is forged from a little boy burned by trauma; self re-created as a criminal, shaped into a master killer of ancient design (shorthand: ninja), but re-discovers himself while incorporating all that he is with all he SHOULD be. He won’t kill, but will act as dreaded justice personified and give to the evil a fate worse than death: everlasting fear.

If Ra’s was Batman’s father, the Joker spiritually  is his mirror twin brother. Don’t expect the dropped in a vat of acid origin. They don’t bother explaining where and why, he comes from all of us, whether we admit it or not - he‘s just a received “a little push” most of us haven‘t received. He truly tests Batman in a way that gives us a clearer view of the hero, which is perfectly what a villain should do - and rarely is it done better. I didn’t buy the whole: “the darkness of the role is what drove Heath Ledger to his end” but now I can understand why that could be said. Jack Nicholson became the Joker by props and make up, Ledger is so crazy he makes perfect sense - the jokes on morality.

Therefore, not good for impressionable youth:

Harvey Dent is established in canon as Batman’s once friend, as though they played squash or golf on the weekends until he burns his face, can’t return the country club, then goes so ape-shit crazy he can only let a coin decide how nuts he’s gonna be. I swear they wrote this to redeem the character from Tommy Lee Jones’ portrayal in Batman: Jim Carey Upstages Val Kilmer; or, was it Batman: Arnold Does a Billion Puns on Coldness? Don’t matter. Dent is a triplet in the Bats/Joker duet, buddies with Bruce Wayne doesn’t come close to describing it, he‘s sort of like a kindred little brother. In the way Wayne could’ve been destroyed, unversed in delving the inner darkness, Dent is destroyed. This is Two Faces origin story and it great.

The next Dominion Cast will be about movies, and I swear to try not to let this movie take over the whole hour, but we WILL be doing spoilers. So get off your ass and catch it.